Five teenage girls were killed and 46 people injured yesterday afternoon when a school bus overturned in the Republic of Ireland.
The bus was taking the children home from secondary schools in Navan, Co Meath, when the accident happened at Kentstown just after 4pm. The bus was thrown on to its side after the crash, which involved two other vehicles.
Four of the dead girls, who have not been named, were pupils from the Loretto convent school in Navan. The other victim was a student at Beaufort College, also in Navan. All five were aged between 13 and 16.
Forty-six people were taken to hospital and six were on Monday night said to be in a serious condition.
The fire station in Navan was notified of the accident shortly before 5pm and a fleet of ambulances was dispatched to the scene. They arrived to find a number of children still trapped in the bus.
Father David O’Hanlon, a Catholic priest in Kentstown, said distraught families had flocked to the scene after the tragedy. ”People are very shocked — they have been saying very little. It is an appalling scene,” he said.
”There seemed to be 20 emergency vehicles from what I could see, a lot of distraught and shocked people standing around, helicopters and emergency services.”
He said many of the children were in hysterics as they waited for up to an hour to be freed from the wreckage
A Bus Eireann spokesperson said its accident investigators were attending the scene. ”We don’t know the reason for the accident,” she said. ”At this point our main concern is that the victims are treated.”
The Navan to Kentstown road has been closed for 36 hours while investigators examine the scene to try to discover the cause of the crash.
Pat McDonnell, who owns a guesthouse in the area, said he travels past the scene of the accident every day. ”It’s not a particularly dangerous stretch of road, but there were road works there today,” he said.
Irish politicians were quick to offer their condolences.
The Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, described the accident as appalling. ”It’s a huge tragedy, an enormous shock to the whole country,” he said. ”We send our sympathies and commiserate with the families of those who have been bereaved.”
The President, Mary McAleese, interrupted a state visit to the United States to speak of her distress at the ”tragic loss of young life in this afternoon’s dreadful accident in Co Meath”.
”She sends her deepest sympathy to the families and friends who have been bereaved,” a spokesman said. ”Her thoughts and prayers are also with those who have been injured.”
The Transport Minister, Martin Cullen, has promised a thorough investigation. – Guardian Unlimited Â